Eighty-five percent of Sacred Wind Communications customers are Navajo. As the only privately owned telco solely focused on bridging the digital divide for rural tribal communities, Sacred Wind relies on a Juniper network to bring blazing-fast broadband to the rugged and remote territory of New Mexico.

Broadband changes lives in the rural communities of New Mexico

“Sacred Wind’s mission is to provide equality of opportunity, through our communication services, to people in the tribal and rural areas of New Mexico,” says Catherine Nicolaou, external affairs manager at Sacred Wind Communications.

When Sacred Wind began serving the community in 2006, only 26% of households had landline phones and none had high-speed Internet. Sacred Wind’s service territory covers deserts, five mountain ranges, and multiple canyons.

Fast forward to 2021: Every home has a landline and 85% of households have access to some of the fastest Internet available on tribal land. When lava fields make burying fiber all but impossible, Sacred Wind uses fixed wireless. Solar power brings Internet to families without electricity.

The pandemic tested Sacred Wind’s commitment when the Navajo Nation faced some of the highest rates of COVID-19 anywhere in the US. As the urgency for digital connection grew, Sacred Wind took swift action.

Read the entire case study at juniper.net